Talk:Solidus (coin)
From Academic Kids
"Until decimalisation in the United Kingdom, the letter s, from solidus, was used to represent a shilling, worth 1/20th of a Pound Sterling."
I don't wish to seem ignorant, but why do we think 's' comes from 'solidus' and not from 'shilling'? DJ Clayworth 18:54, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- A good question. Pre decimalisation the UK used pounds, shilings and pence, all of which were denoted by latin derived symbols: £ d and s.
- £ (a decorated L) from libra, the Latin word for "pound", d for denarius, and s for solidus. I guess this dates right back to when the Roman currency was used, although the pound would presumably have referred only to the weight, since I don't think there was a roman coin of that name. 80.43.216.81 02:02, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
- I should also have mentioned that the French used the same symbols, with the same derivation, except in their case L d and s stood for livre, sol (or, later, sou) and denier 80.43.216.81 02:12, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
